It’s About the Grey Matter

Something happened to humans when Adam sinned – and it has mostly to do with corrupting the quality of human thinking that God gave to Adam and Eve when He created them. After the fall, they are still creatures made in God’s image – as are we – but they no longer have the “grey matter power” to live in relationship with self, each other, God, and creation as He intended to be true for humans – and neither do we! The subsequent stories of Cain killing Abel, the flood of Noah story, and the Tower of Babel story all testify to the brutal reality that something happened when sin entered the world. What the Hebrew Scriptures would later describe as shalom was no longer present.

The great prophet Isaiah reminded Israel on behalf of God about this very issue when he said, again on behalf of God, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” And later in that same text, the Lord says, “So shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:8-11)

Jesus’ conversation with the rich man in the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus includes Abraham saying to the rich man in reply to a question about his brothers, “They have Moses and the prophets.” When the rich man replies “But if someone from the dead were to come . . .” Abraham insists that if they won’t listen to Scripture, they won’t listen to a miraculous word from the grave. (Luke 16:19ff)

Could it really be about the grey matter?

Romans 12:1,2 is perhaps second only to John 3:16 when it comes to memorized passages of Scripture. The phrase we should think about from that text today is “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What else could Paul mean other than as we use God’s Word, which has “gone out from His mouth” to restore the quality of human thinking that God gave to Adam and Eve at creation, our lives can be transformed. That is the kind of metamorphosis that in nature changes an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, and in the kingdom of God, changes a sinner into a saint!

In Colossians Paul talks about this in terms of “letting the peace of Christ rule us,” “the Word of Christ dwell in us richly” and “whatever we do – word or deed – do in the name of Jesus.” (Colossians 3:15-17) In Ephesians, it comes out in the idea of “be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:15-21)

It can’t be either mere culture or mere coincidence that when Jesus first appeared to His disciples in John 20, His first words were “Peace be with you.” (20:19) and a week later when Thomas was with the group, His first words were “Peace be with you.” (20:26) John’s “first day of the week” focus in his testimony about Jesus’ resurrection, along with the last words of Jesus from the cross being “It is finished” (19:30) perhaps point us to the reality that in Jesus, a new creation has entered human history and the ancient concept of shalom was now ours to take up as God’s gift to His creation.

But the gift of peace – self, others, God, and creation – doesn’t appear to be the story line of human history right now. New creation requires a new way of thinking – and that new way of thinking is described by Paul in Romans 12 as “renewing our minds.” When that happens, shalom can become our word and the more we expand the reign of Christ in our world, the more it will become the story line of human history. 

Grey matter seems to be important!